Page 77 of Consumed By the Mafia

Cristiano dropped his free hand on Ryoma’s shoulder. “Arigatou, brother.”

Ryoma managed a strained, but honest, smile. “Whatever other shit’s going on,” he said, “we’re family. I’d never leave you—either of you—hanging.” His eyes shifted back to the tower. The building itself hadn’t collapsed, at least yet, but judging from the thick black smoke and sporadic lick of flame that managed to arc out the window, there was definite structural damage inside. It wouldn’t be livable for a while. “I’m sorry we didn’t figure this out sooner, Cris.”

Cris scoffed, let his hand fall, and glanced over at the chaos. They were close enough to hear a lot of it, but not close enough to be caught up in the madness on site. “I’m the one who took charge of Marchesi, and you warned me he mentioned floor twenty-five. I should have pushed harder to find out what that meant.” He folded both arms around his wife, darkness settling on his face. “If not for you—”

“Stop,” Felicity said, just firmly enough to carry since she hadn’t lifted her head. “I’m fine.Weare fine.”

Ryoma looked away as Cris pressed a kiss to her head. He should call Abby, let her know he hadn’t gone up with the fire. But at the same time, reminding his unusually rattled best friend of the strain between them felt wrong.It shouldn’t.Itshouldn’t have felt wrong, it shouldn’t havebeenwrong, or any kind of strain. He drew a breath, thinking to broach the subject, and his gaze snagged on something.

An unremarkable car, driving slowly away from the crowd and in their direction. The road went both ways, though traffic was already being redirected at distant intersections, so occasional vehicles happened. This one wasn’t driving erratically, didn’t have flashers on or any company logo to have earned Ryoma’s attention. It was what Ryoma thought he’d seen through the windshield before the angle of the sunlight had shifted to obscure his view. He would have sworn he saw a male driver with red-tinted hair.

Ryoma scowled and took a step forward, closer to Cris and closer to the edge of the sidewalk, as the car neared. He saw Cris lift his head, but kept his focus outward.

That was the only reason he saw the barrel of the gun, pointing at them—at Cris and Felicity—through the passenger window.

Ryoma spun in place and threw himself bodily at his friends, his family, knowing only that he couldn’t possibly draw, aim, and shoot before the other man pulled the trigger. “Down!” He didn’t know if he shouted in English or Japanese and he didn’t care. It didn’t matter.

Gunfire erupted behind him.

Felicity screamed.

Hot, searing pain tore into Ryoma as he tumbled to the ground. The impact jarred him, somehow helping to keep him focused as much as it added to whatever damage had been done. He’d taken at least one of those bullets, and in hismemory, he counted three shots before the sound of squealing tires took over.

“Son of a fucking bitch,” Cris cursed from somewhere in Ryoma’s periphery.

Ryoma grit his teeth and shoved up to his knees, doing his best to ignore the way his entire body seemed to protest the movement.Fuck.He had not survived an exploding skyscraper just to get shot down in a drive-by.

The breath rushed from his lungs as Abby’s beautiful, heartbroken face popped up in his mind’s eye. The pain he could still see in her eyes when she’d talked about her parents … and how they’d died in a drive-by shooting.

Fuck.He couldn’t—wouldn’t—do that to her.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Felicity said. “What can I do? What do I do? Why the fuck do I not know what to do?”

Ryoma looked over, seeing Felicity on her knees on the sidewalk and Cris with an arm curled around his own torso. Blood stained the shirt beneath his hand. Cris had taken at least one of those bullets, too.

“I’ll be fine, baby,” Cris said, the beginnings of a strain in his voice. “I’ve taken worse.”

Tears rolled down Felicity’s cheeks. “You gotshot. You’re bleeding!”

Ryoma ripped his stare from them, quickly surveying the area around them to take stock.

The thing about a shooting at a loud, disorganized scene? Hardly anybody noticed. If any of the cops across the way who were supposedly facing their direction in order to hold the barricade thought it was odd that they were kneeling onthe ground, or happened to have heard the gunshots, they were playing dumb. Which was highly probable and precisely why they couldn’t go running to the nearby ambulance.

Ryoma shoved to his feet, ignoring the protest that burned hot through his thigh. “We gotta go.” He was at least pretty sure Felicity’s worst injury was a bruise, presuming he’d counted right, because he was definitely sure he’d taken two hits. Driving was going to be a bitch. He’d manage.

Felicity swung her head around to look up at him. “Cris is—oh shit.” Her eyes got bigger as they traveled down, undoubtedly following whatever blood trail was already running down his arm.

“The sooner we go,” Ryoma said, striding over to help Cris stand, “the sooner we’llallbe okay. We need to get the hell out of here.”

Cris grunted but allowed Ryoma to take some of his weight, until he had his legs properly under him. “Did you see who fucking shot at us?” he asked with a groan. Once he was fully upright, he stepped forward and reached for his wife, who practically hopped to her feet to take his hand.

Ryoma dared another look around. He was pretty sure there were a couple guys in mildly conspicuous coats who hadn’t been standing so comparatively close before he’d turned his attention away last.What a fucking day.“Yeah,” he said to Cris, physically urging the couple in the direction of the parked SUV. Cris’s car was just behind it, but they couldn’t drive both in their current state. The SUV was better. “Looked a whole fuck of a lot like Brendan Coughlan himself.”

Cris growled low. “Motherfucker.”

“Felicity,” Ryoma said as he beeped the SUV unlocked, “can you help keep pressure on his wound? I’ll figure out where to take us, but I can’t do both.”

“Yes, absolutely, I can do that. Can you drive with that arm?” She hovered at Cris’s side as he mostly hauled himself into the backseat of the SUV.

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